This blog covers all aspects of the rich history of rowing, as a sport, culture phenomena, a life style, and a necessary element to keep your wit and stay sane.

Photograph: Werner Schmidt

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Time for 'Jack & Ran'?

Jack Wilson and Ran Laurie

Here on HTBS we have written a lot about British Olympic rowing champions. Lately, our favourites have been Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell, who took the gold in the double sculls at the 1948 Olympic Games, and, in the same Olympic regatta at Henley, Ran Laurie and Jack Wilson, who took the gold in the pair. In 2012, there was a brilliant film made about Bert and Dicke, and now it is time to push for a film about 'Jack & Ran'. Not only did this pair have a tremendous exciting rowing career, first at Cambridge, Ran at the 1936 Olympic Games, then both at Henley in 1938, and again at Henley in 1948 (during these ten years they hardly looked at an oar), and finally at the 1948 Olympics, they also had thrilling adventures in Sudan - everything to make it more than just a rowing movie. Is there anyone out there who needs help with the film script?

There is now a short film clip on Youtube how Laurie and Wilson won the Olympic gold medal, watch it here.

Having been in Sudan for ten years, when they came back in 1948, they were called the 'Desert Rats' - not to be confused with the soldiers in Monty's Eight Army in North Africa...

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About HTBS

‘Hear the Boat Sing’ (HTBS) was founded in 2009 by Göran R Buckhorn, a Swede living in Connecticut, a magazine editor, culture scribe and a rowing historian. In 1990, Göran co-founded the Swedish rowing magazine, “Svensk Rodd”, for which he is now a contributing editor. He has written numerous articles on rowing, and is one of the Directors of Friends of Rowing History and a member of BARJ, the British Association of Rowing Journalists. Regular contributors to HTBS are: rowing historians Tim Koch and Greg Denieffe, both in England; Hélène Rémond, France; and Philip Kuepper, Connecticut. Besides writing articles on The Boat Race, the Henley Royal Regatta, the Wingfield Sculls, and the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race, Tim has made some rowing documentaries. He is also a Director of the Friends of Rowing History and a member of BARJ. Greg is an Irishman who specializes on Irish rowing. Some of his finest pieces are on HTBS. Hélène, who wrote her thesis on British rowing, has covered The Boat Race and the Henley Regatta for French papers and HTBS, also shooting beautiful photos for this blog. Philip’s poems on rowing have topics about everything between the daily life and the divine.